ABBA Have New Music on the Way and Yes, We Are Excited

We're not the least bit ashamed to admit that we love ABBA. That's why we were thrilled to find out, 35 years after breaking up, they've announced the recording of two new songs.

In a message posted to social media, the legendary Swedish pop quartet said that one of the tracks, "I Still Have Faith in You," will be debuted in an upcoming television special as part of a promotional campaign for a previously announced hologram tour for 2019.

"The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence," it reads. "We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!"

"It resulted in two new songs," continues the post. "One of them, 'I Still Have Faith in You,' will be performed by our digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December. We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good."

Last year, keyboardist Benny Andersson announced that a tour featuring "digital avatars" of himself, Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad -- as they looked in the mid-'70s -- and live instrumentation would make its way around the world in 2019. The group's lead vocals would be taken from its albums and 1977 Australian tour. "It's perfect. We can be onstage while I’m home walking the dogs," Andersson said. "It’ll be like you're in 1977, with a live band, live backing vocals, a great set design with lights and sound, everything will be like a live concert."

According to Billboard, ABBA placed 20 songs in the Hot 100 during their 1974-83 run, reaching the top with 1977's "Dancing Queen," with their greatest hits compilation, Gold, selling almost six million copies. Although they were often derided by the rock community, ABBA's hook-filled tunes and perfectly crafted records have found a number of surprising fans. Led Zeppelin thought enough of them to track 1979's In Through the Out Door at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, and Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister called them one of his favorite bands.

"I like loads of crazy-ass, dissonant, distorted rock ‘n’ roll," he said, "but I also love the Bee Gees and ABBA, bands whose pop choruses get bigger and bigger. I love anthemic choruses, that overwhelming feeling of release that you can connect with. So whenever I thought I had a big enough chorus for a song, I would use that as the pre-chorus and then I would try and write something even bigger, like they did.”

Arriving this summer is Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, a sequel to the 2008 movie that featured ABBA songs and was an adapted from the hit Broadway musical Mamma Mia!